With the longer days came much work. For starters, a mad few weeks preparing for the installation of the glasshouse, including cleaning off over 1,000 bricks (thanks to Sue & Tony), building a new brick base (Dave with pot and all) and removing mountains of soil from the central bed. Then the exciting bit came with the arrival of Simon, Tom and Rupert from the Victorian Glasshouse Company with the new glasshouse… more pics to follow next month!
Another mammoth task was preparing the lawn for the summer ahead. Aerating (all with garden forks), scarifying, fertilizing, reseeding, repairing the edging, leveling the last quarter and also giving it the first cut of the year. A lot more work and effort that we expected (Mike has already bought an attachment for the mower for next year!)
The new base for the summerhouse was also fully prepared:
And a special visit from Prof. Jack Hill, an expert on Adam Ferguson, saw the latter’s sundial reinstated…
Of course, no monthly update would be complete without more limework. Tony must be getting sick of the limewashing by now!
We also spent time repairing the fence line to stop those pesky lambs eating all of our plants and laid the foundation for the new driveway onto the tennis court.
Mike even managed to spare some time to undertake some roof and guttering repairs and install the new lintels into the drawing room of the main house (with a little physical assistance from Tony).
And a lot was going on in the garden as well. The hedge bank was completed, snowdrops and then daffodils started to fill the place with colour, more bonfires, another delivery of horse manure for our fruit trees and a vibrant display from the willow tree in the flower garden.
Finally, a lovely sunrise.
Hallyards 